


We Need To Talk

by diogenku



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Developing Friendships, F/F, F/M, M/M, One Shot Collection, Post-Canon, Queerplatonic Relationships, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:42:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25889020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diogenku/pseuds/diogenku
Summary: Many words hung in the air after the fall of Xehanort, words left unsaid and friendships left unkindled. They need to talk.A loosely-related collection of one-shots centering on the conversations that felt needed after the end of KH3. Will add tags as they come up.
Relationships: Naminé/Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas & Sora & Vanitas & Ventus & Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 42





	1. Parent Trap'd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas and Ven get an idea.

“So...”

Roxas jumped at the sound of his own voice, which meant only one thing: it wasn’t actually his voice. 

He turned around from what he was doing, mainly eating lunch in the Bistro in Twilight Town. Ventus stood behind him, looking around, surreptitiously, taking in the golden hues of the town with interest. That’s right—he really hadn’t come here since...since everything happened. Roxas’s eyes darted back to Xion, sitting across from him, who was chewing on her salad silently while looking up at Ventus.

Well, this was awkward.

“Uh. Hey?” Roxas said, gesturing towards the empty seat besides him. Ventus happily took the seat, smiling. “What brings you by?”

It had only been about a week since...since it all happened, and Roxas, Xion, Axel, and Sa—Isa, it was still weird calling him that--had gotten an apartment together in Twilight Town. They had barely had time to settle, and everyone besides Axel and Xion were still distant right now, which was entirely understandable. So seeing Ventus was a bit of a surprise, though the sheer weirdness of seeing his mirror image was dampening any happiness at actually seeing him again; he just wasn’t used to it yet.

Plus, Roxas really didn’t know anything about him. It put him on edge.

“I just wanted to talk to you about something!” Ventus said. “I think we might have been ignoring the elephant in the room?”

Roxas flicked his eyes to Xion again. She was very interested in the remaining croutons on her plate, and stared at them with _great_ interest.

“You mean...the face thing.”

Ventus nodded. “The face thing.”

Roxas shrugged. “What’s there to say about it?”

“I wanna know why we look the same!” Ventus said. 

“Ventus--”

“You can call me Ven!”

“Okay, Ven, I don’t know. Probably something about you being in Sora’s heart when I got...made, I guess.”

Ventus looks thoughtful for a moment, then nods. “Yeah, I think that makes sense.”

Roxas sits in awkward silence until Xion breaks it by letting out a laugh. Roxas looks at her, eyebrow raised. “What’s so funny?”

“It’s just—you two look exactly the same, but you’re totally different. Seeing Ventus is kinda like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs because I’m so used to you being kind of a grump.”

Ventus grinned at her. “We didn’t get a chance to talk! You’re Xion, right? You can call me Ven too, okay?”

Suddenly, a distant memory surfaced in Roxas’s mind, and he started to smile. Xion saw the look on his face and cocked her head to the side. “You have a look, Roxas. What is it?”

“I think I have an idea,” Roxas said. “It’s gonna be fun.”

* * *

Xion was being weirdly quiet. That was the first thing Axel noticed.

The second thing he noticed was that Roxas looked like he was desperately trying to hold in either gas or a secret and it was very obvious. 

“So,” Axel started after taking a bite of his ice cream. They were sitting at the top of the clocktower, just them this time since Isa and Hayner, Pence, and Olette had somewhere to be that afternoon.

“So?” Roxas said, but it sounded...off. Again, like he was holding something back. Axel bit his lip. Was something wrong? Had he said something? Had Isa said something and Roxas hadn’t wanted to bother him about it? 

The imagination ran wild, and Axel couldn’t help but think that maybe having his friends back for the first time in a long time was making him lose his cool way more easily than he was supposed to, which first of all, made him feel like a giant idiot, and he should probably be calming himself down by now.

“...Axel?” Xion’s soft voice broke him out of his train of thought. She gestured toward his ice cream. “It’s gonna melt. Were you going to say something?”

Axel really wanted to identify the look on Xion’s face. He squinted. There was a sparkle of mischief in her eyes, like she was trying to hold in a laugh.

“Okay. What’s going on?” Axel said, exasperated and looking at the two of them, gesturing wildly with his quickly melting ice cream. “You two are both acting really weird, and I really don’t want to find out there’s something _else_ life-changing and terrible I don’t know about.”

Ah, there it was. Xion was trying to hide her grin behind her hand and looking away, and Roxas suddenly looked sort of like a deer in the headlights. 

“Wait. Don’t tell me.” Xion’s grin turned to full-on giggling, and Axel scrubbed at his teeth with his finger. “Did I get something stuck in my teeth?”

Xion belted out in full laughter, and so did Roxas, but it wasn’t anything like Roxas’s laugh. Axel leaned back, pointing an accusatory finger at the boy next to him. “Suspicions confirmed! You and Roxas are trying to Parent Trap me, aren’t you, Ven?”

Ven just finished laughing, and with a voice that sounded like it was apt to erupt into laughter again, he just said “Lea, I have no idea what that means!”

Axel couldn’t find it in himself to resist letting out a barking laugh of his own. “I didn’t think the reference was _that_ obscure...”

* * *

Aqua leaned over to Terra. “Do you think Ven might be depressed?”

Terra nodded, looking over at Ven, who was acting very jittery, but not in the usual, excited-about-something way—more like someone who was trying not to fail a test. “I don’t know what’s going on with him. You think we should ask?”

Aqua was already standing up from the grass outside the hall in the Land of Departure and heading towards Ven. Terra followed, hanging back slightly.

“Hey Ven,” she said. It took just a split second too long for him to respond.

“I—huh? Yeah?” He said, the end of his sentence lilting upward uncomfortably. “What’s up?”

Terra and Aqua narrowed their eyes and tilted their heads at the same time.

“You sound…tired,” Terra said.

“Do I?” 

Aqua went into full-on worry mode. “Listen, I know you’ve been having trouble sleeping since...everything, but if you need help you know you can just ask--”

Terra patted Aqua on the back, stopping her mid-spiel and causing her to stop, a little embarassed. “It’s okay, he knows he can come to us if he needs to. Ven, you’ve been putting off practice all day. You sure you don’t need to take a break?”

“No, I really am fine, guys. Thanks.” Okay, Aqua thought. Definitely off.

Aqua put her hand on Ven’s head and rubbed his head affectionately. “No, you’re not. Go take a nap, Ven, and then we’ll do some sparring. You’re still a little rusty.”

Terra smiled. “Unless you can prove you’re not?” 

“C’mon, don’t tease him, Terra.”

Ven smirked. “I could take you on anytime, Terra.”

Aqua rolled her eyes. “I’ll leave you to it.”

As she retreated to the side, flopping back down on the grass to watch Terra and Ven spar, Ven suddenly looked like he remembered something and shook his head. “Wait, actually, that nap sounds kind of good after all?”

Terra smiled knowingly. “Oh no, I’m not letting you back out now. C’mon, let’s go!” and summoned his keyblade.

“...Fiiiiine,” Ven said, looking nervous. 

And then summoned dual keyblades.

Ven looked at Terra. 

Terra looked at Ven.

Aqua looked at Ven.

Ven looked at Aqua.

“...Roxas let me borrow his keyblades?”

* * *

Axel, Terra, and Aqua sat at Le Grand Bistrot, Aqua sipping some coffee while Axel munched on a sandwich, perpetual twilight making them all glow softly in the orange light.

“So,” He started. “Roxas and Ven have Parent Trap’d us three times.”

“...Parent Trap’d?” Terra asked.

“It’s not important. What _is_ important is who gave them the idea and how we _persuade_ them to un-give it.”

“Do you think it was Xion?” Aqua said. “Those three have been spending a lot of time together recently. I’m glad Ven’s making friends.”

“Weren’t they in the same heart for three years or something like that? Shouldn’t they already know each other?” 

“Nobody knows how hearts work, Terra, I’m pretty sure Ansem the Wise is making it up. But, back to the subject, I don’t think it’s Xion. Not that she isn’t capable of pranking, I just don’t think she woulda come up with it.” Axel had finished his sandwich and was dusting his hands of crumbs. “You think it might’ve been Ven?”

Terra and Aqua looked at each other. “I mean, I honestly don’t think something like that would’ve occurred to him in the first place,” Aqua said.

Axel leaned back in his seat. “All right then, that just leaves Roxas.”

A beat of silence passed while they all looked at each other.

“Yeah, that sounds right,” they all said at once.

* * *

Xion couldn’t stop laughing while Roxas rubbed furiously at his forehead while he looked in the mirror in their apartment, but to no avail. The giant ‘R’ just wasn’t budging. 

In the mirror, Roxas saw Axel leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom. “Gotta keep track of you somehow,” he said, smirking.

Roxas whipped around, looking like a man who was ready to kill. “Axel, I swear, if this is permanent--”

“Relax, it’s just sharpie. It’ll come out eventually...Roxas? Roxas, remember, we have security deposit on this place and if you tear it up with keyblades that’s a couple hundred out of your future college fund...”

***

“...He still hasn’t noticed.”

Aqua shrugged. “Probably for the best. I’m kind of surprised the image turned out so clear, though. Who knew he had ticklish ankles.”

The tiny Wayfinder drawing on Ven’s left outer ankle had gone totally unnoticed. It was temporary, anyway. Apparently Axel’s plan was much more drastic, and they doubted there would be any more switching for a while.

“...Hey guys, did someone give me a tattoo while I was asleep?”


	2. Two Thirds to Make a Whole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naminé is searching for some inspiration, and Xion wants to help her find it--and it might be just what Xion needs.

The one thing Naminé had hated about living in Radiant Garden was that it seemed as though she was living among ghosts.

Or, at least, that’s the way it felt. She had no doubts that all the former members of Organization XIII had no qualms with her and were sorry for what had happened to her; their apologetic looks when they thought she wasn’t looking was enough to prove that. Besides, the ones she was in contact with weren’t that involved in what had happened at Castle Oblivion. But still, the resentment lingered, and with Kairi gone, her mood was only quicker to sour.

She had wanted so badly to thank her other half, to tell her that she was grateful that Kairi ever thought she was worth it, to even want to bring her back in the first place, to not just accept what Naminé had been desperately telling herself and Roxas the whole time.

She had been lying to herself, and she only realized it once it was too late.

But still, Kairi had looked past it. She had realized that Naminé wanted her own life, too, somehow. And that was more than enough to be grateful for.

Naminé sighed, putting down her colored pencil and leaning back in her seat, the half-finished portrait of Kairi sitting on her lap. Her thoughts were all jumbled today, and drawing wasn’t helping her tame them like it usually did. She stared out the window of her studio apartment in Radiant Garden. She had a wonderful view out to a square full of flowers, and she liked to stare at them for inspiration from time to time. But today, it seemed, the flowers gave her nothing.

Naminé got up, dusting herself off. She supposed she could wander around town. She grabbed her sketchbook, in case she felt her motivation return, donned a light jacket, and headed out the door.

She studiously avoided the parts of town she knew the former Organization members were known to haunt. She didn’t want to feel their eyes on her, and she didn’t want to suffer the indignity of uncomfortable small talk. The walking was helping clear her mind a little bit, but not enough. Her thoughts continually returned to the people she had accidentally helped hurt, even though she thought she had been doing good.

She kicked a loose pebble, and it went scrambling over the stone, echoing in a mostly-empty courtyard. It seems she had found solitude after all without realizing it.

Spotting a nearby bench, she sat and opened up her sketchbook again to the unfinished portrait of Kairi. Something about it didn’t seem right. She turned to a new page, and thought about what she would draw. Maybe not a portrait this time, maybe scenery? That might be a nice change of pace. She’d been drawing mostly portraits and scenes with people recently.

She looked up, and let out a startled squeak when a familiar face was in front of her, looking concerned—the girl jumped a little bit herself and covered her mouth, looking sheepish.

“Xion!” Naminé breathed. “You scared me. I’m so sorry for screaming!” She said.

Xion started giggling nervously, and straightened herself up. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have been looking so closely. To be honest, I wanted to get your attention, but you looked like you were really concentrating, and I didn’t want to interrupt...”

Naminé smiled, and patted the seat next to her. “Oh, it’s fine. Don’t worry, I was just thinking about what I wanted my next subject to be. No harm done. Come on, sit down! It seems like it’s been forever since we’ve had the chance to talk.”

Well, they hadn’t really talked a whole lot outside of what excursions Kairi had time for. And it felt a little awkward with Kairi, for obvious reasons. Obvious for Naminé anyway. She always felt self-conscious around her.

Xion sat down and looked at the blank paper. “What were you thinking of drawing?”

Naminé made a frustrated sort of sound. “Well, I was working on a portrait of Kairi—sometimes drawing the person or memory I’m thinking about helps me process it, but I don’t feel satisfied with it. I was thinking about drawing my surroundings instead.”

Xion looked around, and so did Naminé; it was a nice little plaza she had found herself in, and the flowers were beautiful as always. In the distance she could see the endless blue of the sky, with a few puffy white clouds in the distance. Perfect weather, and the breeze felt nice on her skin.

“That sounds like it would be a really nice drawing,” Xion said. “Can I watch you sketch?”

That set Naminé just slightly off kilter, and she wasn’t sure why. “I don’t see why not,” she said, and started doing a basic sketch of the plaza.

Drawing a landscape was rote for her, but as she sketched and started putting down just a bit of color, she kept noticing Xion’s eyes on her, and found her hand faltering, wondering if she was really doing this scene justice. She put her pencil down and sighed, dissatisfied but not knowing what she needed to do to make it work.

“I’m sorry, am I distracting you?” Xion asked. “I can leave, if you want.”

Naminé looked up, a little surprised. “No, you don’t need to leave. It isn’t you,” she said.

Xion leaned back, looking at her sketch from a few different angles. “I think it looks nice, but I don’t have much of an eye for art. What’s wrong?”

Huh. Now that she mentioned it, Kairi wasn’t much of a visual artist either. “I wonder where I get it from, then,” she said absentmindedly.

“Huh?”

Naminé didn’t realize Xion had heard, and flushed a bit. “It was nothing. To answer your question, though, I don’t know what’s wrong. It just doesn’t...feel right. I can’t explain it.”

Xion stood up. “Maybe you just need a change of scenery? We could go world-hopping, if you wanted. Maybe you’ll find some inspiration on some other world?”

Naminé thought about it. She was a bit of a recluse, and it might be nice to see some other scenery. She had seen a lot of the worlds Sora and his friends had visited through his memories, and while she was able to draw them, it wasn’t quite like being there.

Naminé smiled at the other girl. “I think that might be nice. A change of scenery might help after all.”

* * *

First on the agenda was Agrabah, a world that they both knew well, one through memory and the other through experience. Although things had definitely changed since Naminé had restored Sora’s memories. For one, Aladdin was getting married to Jasmine, and the atmosphere of celebration in the air was intoxicating. Xion opted to ignore seeing said prince and princess and instead held Naminé’s hand as they explored the side streets and vendors of the rest of the city.

It was definitely different than Radiant Gardens, that was for sure. The color palette was warm instead of the cool gray and blues of her home, with the occasional pop of color. Fabrics and colorful goods in the various vendor’s stalls were an ocean of tones and textures, the walls and bricks making up the city warm earth tones that seemed to bathe them both in an orange glow. Naminé watched the way Xion’s pale skin reflected and came alive in the daylight, mesmerized.

They took a break after a whirlwind of experiencing the town, and had picked up some sweet-tangy puff pastries from a food vendor they had found.

“So, is this landscape inspiring you?” Xion asked between pastries. “I know this place is more lively than when I was here last. They didn’t really let us mingle with other people very much on missions.”

Naminé nodded. “Well, it’s certainly more vivid than what I saw in Sora’s memories. But...I don’t know. I don’t think it’s what I need.” She looked balefully at her sketchpad, and felt no wave of inspiration after glancing at the town from above, busy with people and color and life. Better, but not what she needed.

* * *

Next, they took a trip to the Beast’s Castle. Or, rather, outside Beast and Belle’s castle, because Xion wasn’t quite up to introducing herself and trying to explain how she was related to Sora and Kairi.

It was beautiful. The night sky was dotted with stars and the windows of the castle were lit and warm, giving a contrast to the deep blue night.

“There isn’t much to do here right now, unless we go into town. But everyone’s probably asleep,” Xion said as they perched on a wall encircling the castle. “Still, I thought it was beautiful.”

“It is,” Naminé said, although she spent equal amounts of time looking at the castle as she did her friend. The blue soft light put her in an entirely different palette, one where her skin was pale and stuck out against the black of her blouse and the dark indigo of the night sky. Her eyes twinkled as they reflected the star’s light, and Naminé found herself getting drawn into them rather than her own canvas.

Xion must have noticed that she wasn’t drawing, because she nudged Naminé a bit in the arm. “Are you okay?”

Naminé looked away quickly, trying not to blush too much. “I’m sorry, I just don’t know. I _think_ this is helping...” Naminé played with her pencil.

Xion pursed her lips. “Hm...”

“Maybe I just need to see one more place? Somewhere different than these two. Maybe that will help,” Naminé supplied, suddenly struck with a worry that Xion was going to call the whole thing off.

Xion perked up and smiled. “All right! I know just the place.”

* * *

The jungle was thick and humid, something that Naminé was very unused to. It almost felt claustrophobic, but it definitely _was_ different. Different, even, than the crowded streets of Agrabah, and certainly different from the open sky of the world of the Beast. The jungle’s rich green leaves made the sunlight that made its way through to the jungle floor seem yellow and warm, dappled light that lit them both in subtle subsurface light. It was both comfortable, but the persistent beads of sweat on her forehead reminded her that the air around her was suffocating, too.

Xion and Naminé were making their way through the jungle. “I heard Sora tell me about this place. Trust me, it’s going to be worth it,” she said, fanning herself. “But I think maybe we aren’t dressed for the occasion…”

Naminé agreed, feeling her footwear was ill-suited to the environment, to put it mildly. They were going up a particularly steep hill when her toe caught a gnarled root, and without warning she began to topple over. Panicking, she tucked her notebook and pencils, not wanting to tear her paper or break her pencils, only to realize that meant her face would be the next thing to hit the ground. She let out the beginning of a scream before she felt a tugging on her arm and her fall abruptly stopping. She scrambled to retain her footing, and flushed when she realized Xion was holding her arm, looking at her with concern.

“Are you all right?” She asked, and Naminé tried to rip her eyes away from her blue eyes, but found herself unable to.

“I’m...I’m okay, Xion. Thank you.” She said, and finally Xion let go of her arm.

“Maybe we should go back to Radiant Garden? It’s been kind of a long day,” she said. And it certainly had been, but Naminé felt a sudden urge to see this through to the end.

“No, I’m fine. I promise. Let’s keep going,” she said, and after trying to regain her confidence, she walked stubbornly forward again, not looking back.

It was just a little while longer before they reached it, and Naminé’s face lit up. “Oh, wow!” she said, climbing forward onto the rope landing. “This treehouse is enormous!”

Xion herself was also a little surprised by the size of it. “It really is a whole house,” she said, and scampered up behind Naminé. Eventually, they reached the wooden landing, and were able to climb up the ladder and into the treehouse.

Naminé immediately sneezed from the dust motes hanging in the air. The place looked like it hadn’t been used in years, but Xion seemed unbothered. “What was this place?” Naminé asked.

Xion beamed. “A little hideaway! Not that I’ve exactly used it much, mind you. I’ve just heard about it. But the real gem is outside, or so I heard.” Quickly, she hopped up what looked like a recently-repaired ladder to the loft above, and Naminé followed.

Outside, Naminé gasped. Different from the wash of orange in Twilight Town that she was used to visiting on occasion, this light made the green of the jungle stand out, and she felt like she could see nothing but an ocean of green for miles—in fact, she probably could. It was breathtaking, the enormous trees of the forest contrasting with her usual experience of the small stems and petals of her flowes, just as majestic in its scale as the flowers were in their delicacy.

Naminé just breathed in the fresh air that wafted above the canopy, still smelling of the moss and greenery below, and closed her eyes, imagining. She could imagine a tableau, with elements of the things she’d seen that day. But what would be the focus?

“Getting inspired? Or are you—you’re not falling asleep, are you?” Naminé turned her head, opening her eyes, and saw Xion.

She knew what her centerpiece would be.

She bit her lip before she could blurt out what she wanted to say— _Your eyes are more beautiful than anything else I’ve seen today,_ _how are you so pretty_ _—_ and instead just tried to drink them in, blue sapphires sparkling in the twilight.

She smiled, and reached for Xion’s hand, holding it with both her own. “Thank you, Xion. I know exactly what I want to draw.”

* * *

Xion was an excellent subject, and the sketch was done by the end of that night. Xion excused herself to go back home, looking like she was exhausted, but pleasantly so, and Naminé had to admit that she was, too.

She was just putting the finishing touches on the next day in the gardens when she felt Xion lean over her shoulder, knowing that it must be her. “That looks...amazing,” she breathed, and Naminé looked back at her, noticing her face was slightly flushed. “You made me look really pretty...”

Naminé shrugged, and before she could stop herself, said “I didn’t really have to try to do that.” There was a beat of silence as she realized what she had said and her face flushed even harder than Xion’s, although both were rapidly turning an intense shade of pink.

“Um—so--I was thinking,” Xion said, backing up a bit. “There are some other worlds I wanted to show you that I remember, if you wanted to come along?” She sounded hopeful, and a little shy.

Naminé smiled. “I would love to.”

Before they left, Naminé hung the finished drawing up on her wall, making sure she’d be able to see it whenever she wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long! I've been having a hell of a time with writer's block. Plus I have like...a job and that takes some time away from writing, unfortunately. 
> 
> Anyway, lads, it's gay!

**Author's Note:**

> So this one won't have a regular updating schedule. I really wanted to finish all of the chapters before I released it, but that...didn't end up happening, so I'll post the new chapter whenever I get the next one in the chronological order done. Think of it like a fun surprise.
> 
> Anyway, I hope y'all have fun with this fic. It's been brewing in my brain for over a year, and I cannot wait to get to everything!


End file.
